Yesterday, the world was shaken by the news of Charlie Kirk’s assassination while speaking at a college campus in Utah. Kirk was well known for engaging students and professors in conversations on a wide range of controversial issues. But he wanted to be known above all not as a political organizer or debater, but as a follower of Christ. When a podcaster asked how he wanted to be remembered after he died, he replied without hesitation, “For courage for my faith . . . the most important thing is my faith.”
Charlie was an Evangelical Protestant, but he was a sort of fellow-traveler of Catholicism: making common cause with Catholic thinkers and activists, often expressing admiration for the Church, engaging positively with Catholic ideas, and even sometimes seen attending Mass with his wife. When, last year, he visited the campus of San Diego State University, I sought him out, hoping to start a long-term dialogue with him about Catholicism.
When I shook his hand and introduced myself as Edgar from Catholic Answers, immediately he responded with, “I love Catholics!” and we chatted for a few minutes in which he expanded on his enthusiasm for Catholics and the Church. I handed him two of our books, Why We’re Catholic by Trent Horn and The Early Church was the Catholic Church by Joe Heschmeyer, along with my card. He received them with genuine interest and pleasure—a testament to his signature willingness to engage ideas and ways of thinking different from his own.
We will never know what might have been, but after our meeting I was sure that the Lord was stirring something in his heart, moving him closer to the ancient Faith. He had befriended Bishop Robert Barron, and at the time of his death was planning to sit for an interview with him. In one of his own final videos, he spoke to the importance—contra his fellow Protestants—of honoring the Virgin Mary, and he offered her as an antidote to modern toxic feminism. The same openness and interest in seeking unity that distinguished him in political and social discourse made him an ecumenical bridge as well.
Charlie was also a tireless champion of the pro-life movement, never shying away from speaking the truth about the dignity of every human life. He boldly confronted the evils of abortion, using his platform on college campuses to advocate for the most vulnerable and to inspire others to stand firm in defense of life.
In the days to come there will be many tributes to Charlie Kirk: to his energy and talents, and to the impact he had on the culture at such a young age. But I suggest we remember him first the way he asked to be remembered: as a man who put his faith first. Let us pray that his soul may find the salvation of Christ in which he placed his faith, and let us pray for the consolation of his wife and two small children he leaves behind.